Anyone else just can't work 40 hrs?

[wageslave23]

Anyone else find that they don't mind working itself its just the 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week that's too much?  Mentally I just can't take being in an office that long.  Working for myself is an option, but I wish I could be one of those people that doesn't mind being cooped up for 40 hrs.  There are a lot of interesting jobs and opportunities that I would like to pursue but it seems like all employers can't get past the 40 hr mindset (at least initially) and I'm not going to take another full time job hoping I can turn it into a work when the work is there opportunity.

[BuddyXL]

Count me in your same group!

Including today when an hour long meeting turned in 2.5 hrs as the lead manager couldn't figure out how spreadsheets work and instead of just saying "I'll figure it out later", made two younger employees walk them thru all the basics.  I sat in a room watching two millennials show this 50 something guy how to setup an Excel sheet while the other eight of us just sat starting at one another.  WTF?

I mean down to how to shade and color a cell to changing border line weights.

I was ready to die.  (But I did learn a few good keyboard shortcuts!  :)  )

So yeah I am right there with you wageslave!

[bacchi]

I never could work 40 hours/week. I'd start feeling burnout in a year and crash around 18 months. Friends who have been able to stick with a pension job for 25 years plan to retire soon with 50% of pay plus whatever they saved in their 403b. A sweet deal but impossible for me.

[FireAnt]

Ditto. I want to go down to part time SO BAD! 24 hrs/week or so. Trying to crunch numbers right now while at work to see how I can make this happen haha.

[GuitarStv]

I work best in bursts.  If interesting and engaged in something, it's no problem to work 12-16 hours in a day.  It actually makes me unhappy and fidgety if I go home early during this time.  This tends to keep up for a couple weeks at most . . . but is then followed by weeks where I lose interest and struggle to do two hours a day.  Cycles go back and forth.

The best job I ever had was work as a pest control contractor during a couple summers while I was in school.  We would have a huge amount of work come in and put in massive overtime to get it done for two or three weeks . . . then have nothing to do and two or three weeks off.  That's the closest to my ideal work/life balance that I've ever run into.

[wageslave23]

Count me in your same group!

Including today when an hour long meeting turned in 2.5 hrs as the lead manager couldn't figure out how spreadsheets work and instead of just saying "I'll figure it out later", made two younger employees walk them thru all the basics.  I sat in a room watching two millennials show this 50 something guy how to setup an Excel sheet while the other eight of us just sat starting at one another.  WTF?

I mean down to how to shade and color a cell to changing border line weights.

I was ready to die.  (But I did learn a few good keyboard shortcuts!  :)  )

So yeah I am right there with you wageslave!

Ugghh, pointless meeting with dumbasses who make them longer are the worst.   Although sometimes I don't mind a 1 hr meeting just to break up the day. 

[wageslave23]

I never could work 40 hours/week. I'd start feeling burnout in a year and crash around 18 months. Friends who have been able to stick with a pension job for 25 years plan to retire soon with 50% of pay plus whatever they saved in their 403b. A sweet deal but impossible for me.

Same.  I've been at this current job for 2.5 yrs and I'm so done with it.  Its tied for my longest tenure at a job.

[wageslave23]

Ditto. I want to go down to part time SO BAD! 24 hrs/week or so. Trying to crunch numbers right now while at work to see how I can make this happen haha.

I crunch the numbers all the time - partly out of desperation, mostly out of boredom. 

[wageslave23]

I work best in bursts.  If interesting and engaged in something, it's no problem to work 12-16 hours in a day.  It actually makes me unhappy and fidgety if I go home early during this time.  This tends to keep up for a couple weeks at most . . . but is then followed by weeks where I lose interest and struggle to do two hours a day.  Cycles go back and forth.

The best job I ever had was work as a pest control contractor during a couple summers while I was in school.  We would have a huge amount of work come in and put in massive overtime to get it done for two or three weeks . . . then have nothing to do and two or three weeks off.  That's the closest to my ideal work/life balance that I've ever run into.

That sounds great (except the potential health concerns).  I would love it if I could come to an agreement with my boss that I would maintain the same productivity level but come into the office only when I needed to and on my terms.  During busy season it would probably be close to 40 hrs a week.  Now it would be 24 hrs a week.

[Schaefer Light]

I work best in bursts.  If interesting and engaged in something, it's no problem to work 12-16 hours in a day.  It actually makes me unhappy and fidgety if I go home early during this time.  This tends to keep up for a couple weeks at most . . . but is then followed by weeks where I lose interest and struggle to do two hours a day.  Cycles go back and forth.

The best job I ever had was work as a pest control contractor during a couple summers while I was in school.  We would have a huge amount of work come in and put in massive overtime to get it done for two or three weeks . . . then have nothing to do and two or three weeks off.  That's the closest to my ideal work/life balance that I've ever run into.

There was a whole section dedicated to the topic of working in bursts (vs. continually clocking 40-hour weeks) in the book "Bullshit Jobs".  I really think this is how most humans do their best work.  Unfortunately, managers can't stand to see their employees "slacking off" even if they've already completed all of their assigned tasks.  See link below.

https://books.google.com/books?id=co2RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=working+in+bursts+and+then+slacking+off&source=bl&ots=NjFK80yA8x&sig=ACfU3U2rcSdnn2VTzpjYdzewGh6Qr_TLhA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIs9KOyvviAhVuh-AKHSMBBe4Q6AEwDnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=working%20in%20bursts%20and%20then%20slacking%20off&f=false

[wageslave23]

I work best in bursts.  If interesting and engaged in something, it's no problem to work 12-16 hours in a day.  It actually makes me unhappy and fidgety if I go home early during this time.  This tends to keep up for a couple weeks at most . . . but is then followed by weeks where I lose interest and struggle to do two hours a day.  Cycles go back and forth.

The best job I ever had was work as a pest control contractor during a couple summers while I was in school.  We would have a huge amount of work come in and put in massive overtime to get it done for two or three weeks . . . then have nothing to do and two or three weeks off.  That's the closest to my ideal work/life balance that I've ever run into.

There was a whole section dedicated to the topic of working in bursts (vs. continually clocking 40-hour weeks) in the book "Bullshit Jobs".  I really think this is how most humans do their best work.  Unfortunately, managers can't stand to see their employees "slacking off" even if they've already completed all of their assigned tasks.  See link below.

https://books.google.com/books?id=co2RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=working+in+bursts+and+then+slacking+off&source=bl&ots=NjFK80yA8x&sig=ACfU3U2rcSdnn2VTzpjYdzewGh6Qr_TLhA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIs9KOyvviAhVuh-AKHSMBBe4Q6AEwDnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=working%20in%20bursts%20and%20then%20slacking%20off&f=false

Interesting

[Annie101]

I work 80% (32 hours).  You can propose part time to your employer, negotiate...

[use2betrix]

I’d rather work a shit ton while I can, and then take long sabbaticals between jobs and FIRE sooner, as opposed to just working part time for much longer. In the last few years we’ve taken two, 4 month sabbaticals where we traveled the world and US extensively.

I work as a contractor, and we could make ends meet by working 3-4 months a year, and that would be pretty dang easy to do. Or, like this year, I’ll work 6 days a week for 12 months (plus two weeks vacation and paid holidays) and we’ll save around $170k or so off my single income.

In a few years, we’ll probably coast FI where we will cut down to 3-4 months of work a year while the stache grows.

[RedmondStash]

I cut back to part-time hours several years back. My most recent gig, I worked 15 hours per week, at a healthy hourly rate. It helped that I'd worked there before and they knew how fast I was.

Full-time hours are just not for me. I'm really glad I don't have to put up with them anymore. I do miss those nice health-insurance bennies, tho.

[eostache]

A 40 hour workweek feels like it takes up 90% of my life.

I've been in my current job for 2 years (well, 1 yr at the small company, then 1 year at the big company that acquired the small company). Next month I will be laid off this job (not surprised). I'm not anywhere close to FIRE, but debt free and thrifty. I am not unhappy about being unemployed for a while. I think there is a tiny chance that they might extend or cancel my layoff notice due to some of  the survivors jumping ship and going to other jobs. I think I might be a bit disappointed if that happens.

[Cellista]

I can accomplish my tasks in much less than 8 hours/day.  I am mainly there in case something urgent happens.  I think of myself as a white-collar fireman.

[Ynari]

I always found most people procrastinate in school, but I was on the extreme end. Never bit me in the ass, either, my rushed work is often my best work - IF I start from a well-rested position and not burnout. I also binge media (not just TV, but books), go through hobby phases, etc.

In the fall, I'm going part time. Half pay, 30 hours instead of 50-55. Fair enough, I still get benefits. At 50+, I was drowning. Even when I worked jobs that were truly 40, I was fed up. Friends and family thought I was unreasonable for finding this 40 hour thing difficult. Different priorities and points of reference, I guess. I don't know how to work at half-power, which seems like a necessary skill to survive in the workforce these days.

A 40 hour workweek feels like it takes up 90% of my life.

I feel the same way. I always "mean to" do a million things after work and only occasionally do any of them (while feeling like shit for not accomplishing anything) because I'm just exhausted. We don't have kids, which is the normal excuse to go part time in teaching, so it's tough telling other people that I just want to cut back on hours *for me*. Especially when everyone else seems to also have a side gig... I just can't imagine.

[CheapScholar]

I’ve done it in the past.  I couldn’t do it again unless it was necessary to provide for my family.  I’m 38, work in higher ed.  Traded my 8:30-5:00 administrative position one year ago for a nice admin/teaching job that has a TON of autonomy.  I’m still in the office a lot during the school year, but even then I usually stroll in around 9:30 and leave around 4:00 (plus, I usually go for a nice walk on campus or hit the university gym over lunch).  In the summers or during winter and spring breaks I work from home or at most go in for a few hours a day.  The other day I worked from home.  Slept til 9am.  Took a nap from 2:30-3:15.  At this point I’m spoiled and it’d be hard to go back to anything remotely resembling a 40 hour work week and bullshit meetings.  I’m also lucky that my commute is only 15 minutes.  I honestly pity those people with long work commutes and then forced to work from early morning to 5:00 or later.  Coming home exhausted and then trying to make dinner.  Fuck that shit.

[dodojojo]

I hate myself for not making it happen.  In that I work mostly from home and if I was disciplined enough, I could finish my everything in 4 days and take the 5th off unofficially.  But it's been 6 years since I started working primarily from home and I still haven't put this into motion.  I really need to map this out and do it.

[GuitarStv]

I work best in bursts.  If interesting and engaged in something, it's no problem to work 12-16 hours in a day.  It actually makes me unhappy and fidgety if I go home early during this time.  This tends to keep up for a couple weeks at most . . . but is then followed by weeks where I lose interest and struggle to do two hours a day.  Cycles go back and forth.

The best job I ever had was work as a pest control contractor during a couple summers while I was in school.  We would have a huge amount of work come in and put in massive overtime to get it done for two or three weeks . . . then have nothing to do and two or three weeks off.  That's the closest to my ideal work/life balance that I've ever run into.

There was a whole section dedicated to the topic of working in bursts (vs. continually clocking 40-hour weeks) in the book "Bullshit Jobs".  I really think this is how most humans do their best work.  Unfortunately, managers can't stand to see their employees "slacking off" even if they've already completed all of their assigned tasks.  See link below.

https://books.google.com/books?id=co2RDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86&dq=working+in+bursts+and+then+slacking+off&source=bl&ots=NjFK80yA8x&sig=ACfU3U2rcSdnn2VTzpjYdzewGh6Qr_TLhA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIs9KOyvviAhVuh-AKHSMBBe4Q6AEwDnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=working%20in%20bursts%20and%20then%20slacking%20off&f=false

Interesting

Makes sense to me.

[Freedomin5]

Me. I've never worked a 40 hour week since graduating from university. I'm moving from a flexible role with lots of autonomy to one that is more structured, so I guess how I'll have to see how I like working a normal 8 to 5 job.

[HenryDavid]

Back when I worked, we had a 100% results and task-based system. (I was a prof.)
This was amazing, since as long as you taught your classes, did your grading, published stuff and supervised grad students, nobody cared when or where it happened.
I got tons done by 3 pm every day, starting about 7ish.
Yes we did work 7 days a week for much of the winter, no choice.
But it balanced out in the summer, for me, because once I hit my self-imposed publishing goals, I slowed right down and rested up for fall, read for interest, etc.
Most people didn’t ever set a limit to the self-driven part of the work (research and publishing) and were constantly burnt out.
Anyway a results-based system—oh yeah, with purely competitive raises, no automatic raises, just increases based on performance—gets people working like crazy badgers, in my experience.

[Linea_Norway]

From autumn 2018 I work 80% and DH as well. It makes a great difference. You get 20% less pay, but 50% more weekend. It's a pretty good deal to keep our sanity during our last working year.

For those of you who'd like to work in bulk, there are also jobs like on oil rigs, where in Norway you would work long days for 3 weeks and then get 3 weeks off. Many outdoorsy people like to work in that pattern. There might be more of these jobs.

[Hula Hoop]

Yes, the being in the office 40 hours a week thing is what kills me.  Particularly when my kids are off for the summer and we need to send them to summer day camps rather than taking them to the beach or just hanging out with them. 

I find a lot of office work is just face time but I have the kind of job where I have to be there the entire 40 hours a week.  I can't work from home and part time is not an option.  My job isn't bad but I'd rather have more variety and freedom in my week  Hence, my desire to FIRE.

[2sk22]

The other thing that happens to me (in software development) is that work tends to follow you (figuratively) after business hours. This was ok in my 20s but not any longer so I'm trying to put an end to this. I've been reading the book Deep Work by Cal Newport - and I think he makes a persuasive argument that if we did our work in intense bursts of deep work, work will not bleed out into our personal lives.

[Metalcat]

My job is intensely physical, extremely fast pace, and often overwhelmingly emotionally demanding.

No, I can't do it 40 hours a week, or at least, I can't do it the way that *I* do it for 40 hours. My sports med doctor specifically ordered me not to. He said my shoulder looked like I had fallen from a tall tree.

[limeandpepper]

Ever since taking a travel sabbatical in 2014, I've been working part-time and love it. And I was still able to afford to take another travel sabbatical in 2017 as well. Both sabbaticals were about 5 months each. It would be difficult to go back to full-time work, I don't think I will unless there is a really compelling reason to do so. My life is so much more relaxed these days and I often get to sleep in. With the extra free time I can nap or potter around at home or get some errands done or go out and meet people and have fun or whatever. It's pretty awesome.

[SpareChange]

Anyone else find that they don't mind working itself its just the 8 hrs a day, 5 days a week that's too much?  Mentally I just can't take being in an office that long.  Working for myself is an option, but I wish I could be one of those people that doesn't mind being cooped up for 40 hrs.  There are a lot of interesting jobs and opportunities that I would like to pursue but it seems like all employers can't get past the 40 hr mindset (at least initially) and I'm not going to take another full time job hoping I can turn it into a work when the work is there opportunity.

Hell yes. I hate working 5 days, even though I don't particularly hate my job/career. I've let my supervisor know that I'd like to move to PT, preferably one week on/one off. I'm about 75% to being FI for living expenses. I've been developing some overuse injuries in my right arm that I'd like to stem. 

[SpareChange]

A 40 hour workweek feels like it takes up 90% of my life.

Yep. It's effects extend far beyond the 40.

[Schaefer Light]

A 40 hour workweek feels like it takes up 90% of my life.

Yep. It's effects extend far beyond the 40.

No doubt about that.  I get up around 6:30, and I don't have time to relax or participate in any fun activities until 5:30 (when I get home).  So, a 40-hour work week really occupies 55 hours of my time.

[A Fella from Stella]

I can be somewhere 40-60 hours per week if there's flexibility.

For example, when all my time was billable hours, it was fairly unbearable. But when I was able to work a second job from the first one, it was great! Boss #1 had no idea, because I was doing a great job for him, too. Had he not cheated me out of some commissions, I likely would not have done it......or give 2 months notice.

I currently telework 2 days a week. Being home is nice.

[FInding_peace]

I also struggle with 40 hours a week.  If it's possible in your profession, I highly recommend working remotely from home.  It makes it much easier. 

[wageslave23]

I also struggle with 40 hours a week.  If it's possible in your profession, I highly recommend working remotely from home.  It makes it much easier.

Yes, I'm definitely making this a priority in the future.  Current job says they are flexible but looks down on working from home too much.